Actor Ben Stein sued a U.S. unit of
Kyocera Corp. (6971), alleging a $300,000 agreement for him to appear
in printer commercials and to give a speech at a company event
was withdrawn because of his views on global warming.

Stein, a movie actor, television personality and economist
known for his role in the 1986 hit movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day
Off,” said in a complaint filed yesterday in state court in Los
Angeles that Kyocera Mita America Inc. backed out of a contract
because of what the company called his “official position on
various policy issues” and statements “widely attributed to
him.”

After he had agreed to do the commercials, and the only
remaining issues to be resolved were what kind of tea and snacks
he would have on the set, Kyocera raised concerns in February
2011 about whether his views on global warming and the
environment were “sufficiently conventional and politically
correct,” according to the complaint.

Stein said he told Kyocera “he was by no means certain
that global warming was man-made” and “As a matter of
religious belief, he believed that God, and not man, controlled
the weather.”

Keiko Mochizuki, a spokeswoman for Kyocera in Kyoto, had no
immediate comment on the lawsuit.

The Kyoto, Japan-based parent company, which makes
electronic equipment and components, said in November it had
received Japan’s 2011 Minister of the Environment award for the
promotion of measures to cope with global warming, the second
straight year it won such recognition.

‘Astonishingly Brazen’

After Kyocera “fired” him, the company made the
commercials with a University of Maryland economist who was
dressed up as Stein, with bow tie, glasses and sport coat, in an
“astonishingly brazen misappropriation of Ben Stein’s
persona,” according to the complaint.

Stein accuses the Kyocera unit of breach of contract,
wrongful discharge and infliction of emotional distress, among
other allegations, and he seeks $300,000 as well as unspecified
punitive damages.

Stein, 67, is an actor, writer, lawyer and “commentator on
political and economic issues,” according to his Facebook page.
He worked as a speech writer for U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon
and Gerald Ford before becoming an actor, comedian and Emmy
Award-winning game show host, according to the page.